In connection with the medical care of bedridden patients, considerable attention has been directed over the years to the provision of weighing mechanisms for monitoring patient weight. For example, beds have been built incorporating weighing scale mechanisms. This approach is capable of providing accurate patient weight information, and has been widely used in the hospital bed industry. There is significant economic inefficiency, however, in providing such elaborate and relatively expensive mechanisms as a permanent feature in a bed. The feature is used only when the patient requires it, which is relatively infrequently for general care hospital beds. Thus, many have proposed apparatus which is not tied to a single bed on a permanent basis. Portable floor scales which can be moved from room to room to weigh the entire bed have been utilized. Another approach that has seen clinical application is the provision of scales which hoist the patient just off the bed and suspend him from above while the weighing step is completed.
All of the foregoing approaches have deficiencies with respect to the size and complexity of the apparatus. They are relatively expensive and lack versatility.
This invention contemplates a portable scale which may be easily stored and transported. When patient weight monitoring becomes significant in the clinical care of a particular patient, it may be readily placed in operation by placement under the patient mattress.